Maybe Re-Signing Bo Bichette Still Shouldn’t Be the Blue Jays’ Top Priority

Last week, my boss here at DiamondCentric asked me to prepare “a truly killer piece” for the Monday after American Thanksgiving. Well, here goes.

You’ve seen a lot of articles on our website about Bo Bichette lately. The general consensus? The Blue Jays need to do whatever it takes to re-sign him. Sure, we’ve considered backup plans, but they’re backup plans for a reason. Bringing Bo back is the goal.

But maybe it shouldn’t be.

I started writing this article just to see if I could.  I wasn’t always planning to publish it. After all, I’ve been calling on the Jays to re-sign Bichette as much as anyone. I didn’t want to write this title if it was only going to be clickbait. I needed to find an argument I believed in.

Before long, I’d found several.

Now, I should mention that I started writing this article early last week, before the Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract. My primary argument, at the time, was that signing a pitcher like Cease should be Toronto's number one priority. I'm feeling pretty good about that argument right now. Here's what I wrote:

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Toronto’s top priority this winter absolutely needs to be pitching. The 2025 Blue Jays' offense was one of the best in the league, even subtracting Bichette’s performance. The pitching staff, on the other hand, was closer to average (if not slightly below) with a 4.19 ERA (19th) and 11.7 FanGraphs WAR (21st).

To be fair, those stats are full of noise. More than a quarter of last year’s innings went to pitchers no longer in the organization, while arms like Trey Yesavage and Louis Varland should play much bigger roles in 2026. So, perhaps a better way to explain why the Blue Jays need pitching is to lay out their projected lineup and pitching staff for next season. Let’s start with the position players:

That’s a complete lineup. Is it a great lineup? No. Bichette’s absence leaps off the page. But there is at least an average major leaguer at every position. I can’t say the same for the starting rotation:

Kevin Gausman is a great pitcher, but for a team with World Series aspirations, he’s ideally a number two starter, not an ace. He’ll also be 35 next year. 

Shane Bieber has that ace upside, but he hasn’t pitched a full season since 2022, and the Bieber we saw last year looked more like a mid-rotation arm. 

Trey Yesavage remains something of a question mark. Could he blossom into Toronto’s ace? If last October was any indication, the answer is an emphatic yes. But that’s his ceiling, not his 50th percentile projection. As is the case with Bieber, a mid-rotation arm is the expectation here, and anything more is gravy.

As for José Berríos, I think we’re looking at a back-end innings eater as the most likely outcome in 2026 – presuming his elbow is healthy enough for him to keep racking up innings. Once again, the upside for more is there, but the version of Berríos we saw last season isn’t someone you want starting a postseason game. 

Finally, we come to Eric Lauer, who simply cannot have a guaranteed role in Toronto’s rotation if this team is serious about returning to the World Series. It’s not that he wasn’t great last season, but he has not proven he can hold down a full-time starting job. On top of that, he’s more valuable as a swingman; the Jays should plan to use him as a multi-inning lefty in the bullpen, but he will inevitably move into the rotation at some point as injuries pop up.

All that to say, the Blue Jays would benefit tremendously from adding a true ace to put at the top of their rotation, sliding everyone else down a spot. No single addition at any position would improve this team more than adding, say, Dylan Cease (Editor's Note: ding ding ding!), Tatsuya Imai, Framber Valdez, or Ranger Suárez (DiamondCentric’s top four free agent starters). 

If the Blue Jays want to get back to the playoffs and challenge for another title, bringing in a new number one starter should be their number one priority.

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Well, mission accomplished! So what now?

The Blue Jays should have plenty of Mr. Rogers’ money to spend after their hugely successful run to the World Series. They can still afford to re-sign Bichette after landing Cease. But I haven’t talked about the bullpen yet.

This ‘pen needs help:

After Jeff Hoffman and Louis Varland, I’m varying degrees of nervous about every player in that table. And considering the only two names I feel good about are Hoffman, who gave up more homers than any other AL reliever last year, and Varland, who only has one season of experience as a full-time reliever, this is clearly a high-volatility group. 

It’s not that there’s nothing to like about this bullpen. Every one of those pitchers flashed great stuff at some point in 2025. The problem is that relievers are wildly unpredictable, and this group especially so. 

Thankfully, the Jays have options. Or, I should say, Brendon Little, Braydon Fisher, and Mason Fluharty have options, as does Varland. In addition, Tommy Nance is a DFA candidate.

So, GM Ross Atkins has the flexibility to add several arms to this bullpen. He could (and should) go after one of the big-name free agent closers: Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams, or Robert Suarez. He could (and should) also pursue one or two more proven veterans, such as Seranthony Domínguez, Emilio Pagán, or Tyler Rogers. 

Bo Bichette is a more valuable player than anyone Atkins could add to the bullpen. I’d rank him above anyone they could have signed for the rotation too, be it Cease, Valdez, Imai, or Suárez. That’s why he’s the No. 2 free agent on DiamondCentric’s top 50. 

Yet, a starter like Cease knocking Lauer out of the rotation or, say, a closer like Díaz knocking Nance out of the bullpen would improve this team more than Bichette taking playing time away from the likes of Clement/Barger/Schneider/Lukes. It’s not just a question of who the Jays are adding; who they’re replacing matters just as much. 

Of course, Toronto’s front office should have the resources to prioritize improving the rotation, the bullpen, and the lineup equally.

Even so, I could argue that Bichette shouldn’t be Toronto’s top target. Why? Because he’s only No. 2 on DiamondCentric’s top 50 free agents list, and the Blue Jays have the money, the clout, and the roster flexibility to set their eyes on No. 1.

Kyle Tucker is the best free agent on the market. We’re projecting him to sign a 10-year, $360 million deal. That’s more than twice the guaranteed money we’re projecting for Bichette (seven years, $175 million). That massive contract projection is a reflection of Tucker’s MVP-caliber talent. 

As much as I love Bo, it’s hard to argue that Tucker isn’t the superior player. He won’t hit for quite as high an average, but his power, discipline, and speed are superior, as is his defense, albeit at a less valuable position. 

Tucker would also be a better fit for Toronto’s lineup. The Jays’ two best hitters, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, both hit right-handed. They have plenty of lefties, but no one who’s a sure thing to make a serious impact from the left-hand side. 

Turning to defense, adding Tucker would mean Barger and Schneider would see more of their reps in the infield, while Lukes would be relegated to a smaller role. But none of that is meaningfully different from what would be the case if the Jays signed Bichette – just replace the word “infield” with “outfield.”

Ross Atkins finds himself in the best position he’s ever been in to convince ownership to spend big and convince superstar free agents to sign north of the border. He needs to capitalize. 

Re-signing Bo Bichette would be a great move. The Blue Jays would be far better with him than without him, and the fans would be thrilled to have him back. 

At the same time, re-signing Bichette isn’t the best move Atkins can make. There are other ways he can improve his team even more, and he needs to consider all of them. (Signing Cease was one such move.) So, I’m not saying no to Bo. But maybe re-signing him isn’t the absolute, ultimate, be-all end-all, must-do, no question top priority we’ve been treating it as. Maybe there’s another path.